


Good Girl (The People Are Talking Remix)

by nothorse



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-04
Updated: 2014-05-04
Packaged: 2018-01-21 21:22:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1564544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothorse/pseuds/nothorse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Cordelia's dating Summers, right? Anybody know what the Cordettes think?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Girl (The People Are Talking Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brutti_ma_buoni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brutti_ma_buoni/gifts).
  * Inspired by [When She Was Good](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1029061) by [brutti_ma_buoni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brutti_ma_buoni/pseuds/brutti_ma_buoni). 



“So Chase’s gone lez?”  
“Yeah. Shame about those tits”  
“On the other hand…”  
“Huh?”  
“It’s Summers. Who else could keep up with her?”  
“True. Still a shame. Two sets of tits out of the running.”

Aura watched the ripples spread through school. Cordelia had come out dating Summers and the surprise had hit hard. Of course the the first were the expected coarse comments, the lewd gossiping and the derogatory slurs. But what Aura had not expected was an undercurrent of grudging respect not only for Cordelia, but also for Summers. It confused her. She didn’t want an upset to her carefully constructed high school experience. She had joined Cordelia’s entourage to be inconspicuous. Keep her head down while in school, while still under her Mom’s thumb. Be one of the cute girls, of the popular girls, be a cheerleader, bring home decent marks. She could wait until College or even after College to be herself. And now Cordelia had gone and upset the cart. Anybody else would have been an immediate pariah. Cordelia, though, she had power. A lot more than expected.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“Snyder kicked Cordelia off the squad.”  
“Oh. So who’s taking over?”  
“Well, Harmony tried, but she was shot down by the other girls.”  
“And the coach?”  
“Joe heard her screaming at Snyder, but who knows. Hasn’t called a new captain yet.”

 

Aura had expected Harmony to take over, but somehow it hadn’t worked out that way. Cordelia still ruled. Summers – no, Buffy – now hung out with them occasionally. And Cordelia hung out at the library a lot now. Except for that not a lot had changed. Well, there was the close dancing at the Bronze and the quick kisses outside class, and maybe the disappearances into the janitor’s closet, and the missing put-downs for Harris and Rosenberg. Oh, and the not having a cheer captain. So yeah, actually, a lot had changed but Cordelia still was queen. And that kindled something in Aura. Something she had hidden away beneath the good girl her Mom desired.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“You missed it!”  
“What?”  
“Yesterday, the game and the protest.”  
“They did it?”  
“Yeah and it was fantastic. I thought Snyder would shit his pants and have a heartattack a the same time”  
“Cool.”

Aura had had fun. She hadn’t ever expected being a rebellious hooligan would be so much fun. Some gut-clenching fear too, watching Snyder’s face and picturing her Mom’s reaction. Anyway it was fun. The squad stood at the sideline with a conspicuous hole in the cheer captain’s place. And when the game had started, all the players and the cheerleaders just stood facing their own side and took of their uniform shirts, exposing t-shirts with “BEING GAY IS NOT A CRIME” and “WE WANT OUR CAPTAIN BACK”. The Glendale players had tried to get them back into the game, but they all had refused and kept chanting “Cor-de-li-a”. There would be hell to pay tomorrow, Aura was sure, but it was such a cool feeling being strong.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“Old man Chase was here?”  
“Oh yeah. I went past Snyder’s office and I could hear the shouting outside.”  
“Ah, Snyder getting reamed. Never thought I’d hear that ever.”  
“It was pretty cool. I got detention for ’skulking about’ but it was so woth it, seeing Cordelia’s father storming out and Snyder being all bootlicky”

“So that was the new normal,” Aura thought. Cordelia was back as head cheerleader after her father had thrown his influence around. She split her time between her court and the library and while Summers was always somewhat immune to the usual politics, nowadays neither Harris nor Rosenberg were heckled anymore. Still Aura didn’t let herself think. Her Mom had had some choice words for Cordelia. Fortunately the Chases were a lot bigger than her family, so her Mom couldn’t demand that Aura cut ties, but she had a big freaking fit about it. Aura kept her head down.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“How’s Dick?”  
“Banged up, pretty much. They’ll let him out of the hospital today.”  
“Cool.”  
“Yeah. Good thing Harris and Summers were there.”  
“Yeah.”  
“Sometimes I think I know what Cordelia sees in her.”

Dick was a nice guy, he had tried to protect her, when those guys crashed parent-teacher night. Aura had hidden in a classroom cupboard and almost peed herself. But when the crashes and screams were over, the goons were gone and Buffy was desperately kissing Cordelia on the front lawn while Xander and Willow had looked on. Her mother had been at school. If not for Buffy, she might have been… Better not finish that thought. For all her bitchy stupidheadedness, she was still her mother. But something had come loose within Aura. She wasn’t the run to danger type, she really wasn’t. But she couldn’t keep on just ducking it all. And anyway, her Mom was scary when she was riled up, but what Buffy and Cordelia and Xander and Willow were fighting was far scarier. She owed them. Maybe she could help out in the library a bit. Kinda like backup.

⚔ ⚔ ⚔

“Hi.”  
“Aura? What are you doing here?”  
“I’m not really sure.”  
“Want to go back out and wait until you’re sure?”  
“Xander! Be nice.”  
“Sorry.”

Aura fidgeted a bit. “My dad,” she said, “he kinda has this hobby. Whenever Mom gets a bit much for him, he goes down to the garage.”  
Aura lifted the Prada bag she had carried along to school. She set it down on the library desk.  
“He’s into woodworking, Dad is.”  
Aura tipped over the bag and a few bundles wrapped into scarves rolled out of the bag. “He’s got a huge shop there, with all the toys. When I was in junior high, he would teach me some things, until Mom said it wasn’t something a girl should be doing. But it was fun.”  
Aura looked at Cordelia who sat on one side of the table with her arm around Buffy. “I. I just wanted to help. So,” she picked up one of the bundles and unwrapped a polished stick that came to a perfectly formed point. “I turned this one on the lathe. It’s hardwood, so it shouldn’t break. And for this one,” she unwrapped another one that was all angular and sharp, “I used the milling machine and a planer. I don’t know which one’ll work better, you’ll have to tell me. And this one, ”The next bundle was unrapped, “should be weighted for throwing. I’ve read something about how throwing knives are weighted, and I tried to get it the same, so if it doesn’t work, you just tell me and I’ll try again. OK?”  
Aura bit her lip and looked down at the table. She heard the scrape of a chair and felt arms around her.  
“These are amazing, Aura,” said Cordelia, hugging her from behind. She heard the thunk of wood hitting plaster and a squeal. Then she felt a quick peck. “Thanks a huge bunch, Aura, these are so cool.”  
Aura started smiling relieved. “You really think so?” she said softly.  
“Oh, yes,” said Buffy.  
Aura looked up into the smiling faces of Buffy and Cordelia.  
“I’m glad,” she said. “Just let me know when you need more. Or other things. Mom will just have to get over her disappointment.”  
Out of the corner of her eye Aura watched Willow Rosenberg and suddenly was very happy, when she saw no dislike and maybe a little bit of respect in her face.  
Maybe Mom would have to get used to other things later. Probably much later though.


End file.
